The present invention relates to painting equipment and more particularly to powered paint applicators.
Paint is commonly applied to a surface to be covered by means of brushes, rollers, pads or other similar applicators which, in a non powered application mode require the periodic dipping of the applicator into a reservoir of paint to load the applicator with a fresh supply of paint.
Powered applicators have been developed to avoid the constant reloading of the applicator so that the painting can occur in a more or less continuous fashion. In such powered applicators, there generally is a motor driven pump which supplies the paint to the applicator via a conduit and switch means are provided, generally at the applicator, to control the flow of paint to the applicator.
In most instances, a large reservoir of paint, for example a one gallon paint can or its equivalent, is situated in a relatively stationary position and a pump and motor are provided in a housing adjacent to or within the same housing as the paint reservoir. A long flexible conduit extends between the stationary pump and reservoir to the applicator so that the person applying the paint can move within a certain area to apply the paint continuously before the pump and reservoir must be moved to a new location.
Generally such an arrangement is satisfactory where large surface areas such as walls or ceilings are being painted in that a significant amount of time is required to paint an area encompassed by the length of the flexible conduit. Thus, movement of the pump and reservoir occurs infrequently.
However, in some painting situations, such as the painting of trim, only a small surface area is being covered in any location thus requiring more frequent movement from one location to the next, requiring frequent movement of the reservoir and pump. Furthermore, even when painting large areas, the stoppage of paint application to move the pump and reservoir presents a cumbersome and time-consuming task. Therefore, it would be an improvement to the art if there were provided a powered paint applicator which did not require the frequent stopping of the painting application to move the pump and reservoir to a new location.